


Communicate

by AKAwestruck



Series: Beginnings Unfinished [1]
Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Card Games, Gen, Not Beta Read
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-08
Updated: 2020-09-08
Packaged: 2021-03-06 14:53:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,437
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26350702
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AKAwestruck/pseuds/AKAwestruck
Summary: Yugi learns about his other self through games.
Relationships: Mutou Yuugi & Yami Yuugi
Series: Beginnings Unfinished [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1914757
Comments: 4
Kudos: 18





	Communicate

**Author's Note:**

> I've barely touched this since 2018, so I think it's time to give up on continuing and release it into the wild.

Yugi nibbled his lip and rubbed his thumb along one edge of the puzzle. Jou and the others had a point. He couldn't just keep on ignoring Other Yugi. Eventually something would happen, and Yugi would end up facing some bad consequences of the Other's actions, rather than waking up to new friends and his bullies 'defeated'. Real life wasn't like a game, where enemies just disappeared after they were beaten. Ushio's mother had pulled him out of school, and no one knew what he was doing now. The illusion Other Yugi had trapped Ushio in seemed like just desserts at the time, but hallucinations weren't a joke.

Honda thought Yugi should take the Millennium Puzzle off, just to be safe. Jou thought they should lure Other Yugi out and confront him. Anzu wanted to tell an adult.

The others had described the actions of Other Yugi to him. The boy would state what his opponent had done wrong, challenge them to a seemingly straightforward match with vaguely threatening stakes, and proceed to beat his opponent at a much more serious game than they'd first realized.

Yugi couldn't help but admire such a skilled gamer. He couldn't admit it to his friends, but hearing about Other Yugi made actual Yugi itch to challenge him. Playing Duel Monsters with Jou was great, and Yugi would hate to give up playing with him every day. At the same time, there was nothing quite like the thrill of a real challenge, when you and your opponent were both thinking ten, fifteen turns ahead, calculating odds and reading every twitch of the other's expression.

Which was why Yugi was currently sitting at his desk, set up with two play mats in front of him, as if preparing for a deck test. His core deck was set at the top of the desk, out of the play area. Five side decks were arrayed in front of him. He'd even gone so far as to pull out a few key cards from each and fan them out in front of their respective decks. Yugi wasn't sure how much of his knowledge Other Yugi had access to, and he wanted to make sure his opponent had a chance to choose a deck that suited his style.

Assuming Yugi could get him to play. Assuming that Other Yugi wanted to, and that Other Yugi wouldn't instantly know every card Yugi drew, and could switch places with Yugi at will.

This was almost like confronting Other Yugi, right? If the boy was going to communicate freely with Yugi, he'd have done so by now. Left a note in his - their? - own pocket, or something. But Other Yugi showed up, played his high stakes games, and disappeared. So playing a game was really Yugi's best bet to get to know Other Yugi. You could learn a lot about a gamer from their play style.

Yugi really hoped this wouldn't end up as a high stakes game.

"Other Me?" Should his eyes be closed? Did it matter? "Other Me, I want to play a game against you. Just for fun!" Yugi paused breathlessly. No response that he could tell. "We each pick from one of these decks. I'll play on the left mat, and you'll play on the right. Once we take out turn we set down our hand on the far side of the mat, and then switch who's in control, that way we don't see the other's hand, okay?" Yugi took a deep breath. This was the moment of truth. Time to see if he had been talking to himself. "I built the decks, so it's only fair for you to choose first." He shut his eyes.

There was a moment of disorientation, as if the chair had tilted under him. Yugi opened his eyes and blinked. On the right play mat, there was a deck placed, ready to be played. "Uh, I don't know if you shuffled, so just to be sure, I guess I will? And then you can shuffle mine once I've chosen." Other Yugi had selected Yugi's fairy deck. Fairies were awesome, they had all sorts of fun abilities. Every card brought something new. Since Other Yugi had picked a synergistic deck… Yugi moved his new merman deck to the left play mat and stacked the others away on a shelf. "Okay, I'm ready to switch."

There was another moment of disorientation, and Yugi opened his eyes to find the Other's hand drawn. He drew his own hand and examined the cards. He set them aside. "Okay, you go first. Let's duel! Switch."

The duel started quickly, neither duelist willing to let the other build up their synergy. No Duel Monster lasted more than two turns on the field before being destroyed. Eventually, though, Other Yugi's firepower ran low and Yugi began to establish a real board presence. He was nearly ready to take a chunk out of Other Yugi's life points when a single fairy swept the board clean, leaving Yugi over extended and Other Yugi in position to take control. From there Yugi put up a valiant fight, but he was trapped, reacting to Other Yugi's every move with grace but never taking the lead.

Yugi leaned back in the chair, breathing heavily. "That was… amazing. I can't remember the last time I had a duel like that!" He couldn't help rehashing every move of the duel as he cleaned up the play mats. "And that combo against Silverfin Knight! I don't think those two would be good together in nearly any other situation, but they were perfect! Did you plan that? I think you must have, because I wouldn't have played him if you hadn't played Malady Melody, and you had no reason to use that instead of Effervescent Vine except to draw him out! Wow!" Yugi desperately wanted to play again, but his eyes were beginning to droop.

"We should play again tomorrow. And maybe we can try some other games, too. I really like Tetroid. It's a simple design that encourages some fairly complex ga-" Yugi cut himself off with a yawn. He stumbled over to his bed, not bothering to change. "I've gotta sleep now. Thanks for the duel, Other Me."

* * *

Yugi crouched over the board, brow furrowed. "You're a ruthless general, Other Me. Sacrificing all of Northern Europe for the sake of your choke point. I approve. But it won't work! I'll turn in my cards for reinforcements. Prepare to die!" Yugi gave his best maniacal laugh and began marching his troops through to break Other Yugi's hold on North America.

Board games with his other self were now a nightly standard. They were working their way through Grandpa's personal collection, skipping only the roleplaying games, seeing as their communication was still one-way.

Yugi didn't actually know what Other Yugi thought of his goal to play every game together. Part of Yugi felt like he knew his other self pretty well. Honorable but ruthless, willing to bend but never ever break. Very neat, always moving his pieces to face the correct direction and his cards always lined up straight. Respectful to a fault, never correcting Yugi's own haphazard placement of pieces, even if they were in common areas. Other Yugi rarely faltered or changed his plans, but he was skilled enough to cut through his opponent's measures and draw them back into his own pace. He had an overwhelming intensity that Yugi could experience without ever meeting Other Yugi directly.

But another part of Yugi told him that he didn't know his other self at all. They had never spoken, and the only written 'communication' was when they had to mark down points for their games, which were tallies more often than not. Yugi didn't know what expression Other Yugi made when he knew he was about to win, or whether he enjoyed a great defeat as much as a resounding victory. He didn't know whether Other Yugi fidgeted, or what style of clothing he would wear, if he had the choice. Other Yugi refused to take over for any reason other than to defend Yugi or play games.

On the board, Yugi's offensive petered out and he passed on play to his other self. When he next opened his eyes, Other Yugi had amassed an army along their borders. Rather than simple-to-exchange-if-killed trooper pieces, Other Yugi had combined them into cannons, lined up at the front and ready to defend his territory - or press onward next turn.

Yugi grinned. He may not have met his other self, but that didn't mean they couldn't communicate.


End file.
